Pakistan's Weakest Point.

[muhammad]

i think foelding i have witnessed many matches lost due to bad fielding rather than bad opening partnership

[Wanderer]

Pakistan's fielding have improved much under Woolmer, I think. Rhodes says all he wants to do is to get some "fielding attitude" into the players.

He said his advice to them will be to enjoy fielding. That's much the same advice he gave to the South Africans last year after their very poor fielding against the Aussies, including about 10 dropped catches in one test.

After his assistance they improved a lot in the return series. Hopefully he can do the same for Pakistan.

[muhammad]

i think if PCB wants to improve the standard of fielding of pakistani team then they should spend the heavy amount of money on improving the grounds rather than forigen coaches . coz grounds where our(pakistani) younger player even of a-teams play are so hard that there is a high probality of hurting yourself if you dive after the ball.. so player hesitate to go aftre the ball like some crazy fielders . and this develops the lack in fielding abilities.

[salu]

i would say that both r equally bad

[greg]

Well as an outsider you always feel that you are going to get early wickets against Pakistan as the openers aren't as good as some of the rest of the sides around the world which ultimately puts pressure on the big 3 to perform all the time.

As for the fielding i think it will improve with Woolmer in charge as he is a coach who likes that side of things and knows it is vital to be a success.

It was interesting during the Old Trafford test that Ramiz Raja said that Pakistan need to start a new programme to find openers of the future starting with todays 13 and 14 year olds to make sure that the problem is sorted for the coming years.

[Milo]

Pakistan's weakest point has always been their collective batting. Woolmer has managed to instill a better ethic that has made these calamities less frequent, but all Pakistan fans will have been holding their head in their hands this last test with this all too familiar batting performances.

They are as likely to come back and win the next test as they did on the last tour to England. Pakistan fans have to live to accept these batting performances at certain times.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Milo

They are as likely to come back and win the next test as they did on the last tour to England.

I admire your faith and I wish I shared it - how do you see us getting 20 wickets within 5 days?

[Milo]

They'll have to pick a new bowling line up for a start. It didn't help that the bowler at the top of the National averages is sitting on the sidelines. Maybe they should also look at a guy who has taken 400 odd wickets in the last five seasons at Sussex. I hear he's taken a few English wickets also in his time.

[Maranello]

Both sensible suggestions Milo - let's hope someone, somewhere, is listening! An attack with Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi, Mushtaq and Gul/Razzaq could be interesting...

[flanflinger]

For me it's the openers.

Yes, Fielding has caused problems, but with someone like Woolmer in charge that can be sorted out.

The big problem has to be the openers, if you lose two quick wickets often it will cause your middle order problems, especially as your big players are at No's 3,4,5.

At the moment Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf are having to face the new ball all too often. They are coming in also knowing all the pressure to build a big total is with them.

The fact that there is no consistency, and nobody knows who the best two openers are, is always going to cause problems. For the last 5 years or so Australia have dominated the world, one of the key factors has been Hayden and Langer, look at the dominant West Indies side Greenidge and Haynes, solid opening pairs are for me one of the main keys to long term success.